The Silver Lake facility was a simple building within line of sight of Silver Lake, not too surprisingly. Standard corporate building, all told. Parking lot, guards, blah-blah-blah. Biggest issue, from what I could see, is that they kept their ‘work computers’ as a stand-alone hardwired network, completely air-gapped from the wider Matrix. The outward-facing network had business emails the accounting stuff, and other things like that. Anything to deal with the movies was on the isolated network.
That was going to be problematic. Basically, the only way to hack in and get to the important things was to break in, and either get a hacker to a terminal where they could work their magic, or plug a commlink into a port so that there was now access to the wider Matrix. Which meant that the slower, safer method of hacking (by probing a node’s defenses, and eventually getting yourself access over the course of a few hours) was out. Well, most likely. There were ways to make it work, but they still needed someone to go on site, and just hope that the vulnerability didn’t get noticed for a while.
“Looks like a team of ten guards at night, if this is correct,” Sexkitten said. “Though they also have a pair of ‘spiders’ on site. What are spiders?”
“Twilight’s nemesis,” I said, automatically. “Basically, think of the network as a nice little web. The spiders go prowling about, along with any IC there might be, looking for juicy little hackers to wrap up for their masters while the corpsec deals with everyone else.”
“Hmm,” the Technomancer frowned. “Looks like one dedicated defender for the external network, and one for the internal one. Even though they’re in the same physical room, they have to physically connect to the other device to switch networks. No cross-loading, or anything like that. Full jack out and then jack in.”
“Yeah, it is the lowest of low-tech security measures without going full luddite and going to hard copy, but it makes our job way more difficult.”
“Another problem,” Babydoll chimed in. “While there look to be only ten guards and two ‘spiders’ on site, there will likely be other workers there, too. Any one of them gets a call for help out, and there’s a Red Knight precinct ten minutes away. Corporate call for help will probably have them there in fifteen minutes. Less, if there’s talk of bodies.”
“Which means we need to decide which way we’re going to play this. Do we try and do the ghost routine, try and take everyone out quietly? Or do we infiltrate somehow, plant a link and just… hope it doesn’t get noticed?” I looked around. “Open to other options, as well, obviously.”
“Twilight, what do you think?” Shadowgirl asked. “Matrix is your domain, so you have the best idea of what we need.”
Twilight took a breath, and said, “My preference would be to have someone infiltrate, and get a commlink in place. That would give me the time to do the job right. To really be effective, though, you’d need to get the device plugged into one of the main processors, not just a desk terminal. And that means getting through all the physical security.”
“Well,” I said, “it looks like their on-site security is on the external network, probably so that they can call for help from corporate, or interface with the Red Knights, if needed. Could you get control of the external network, and hide the evidence of someone breaking into the server room?”
“Sure, I could manipulate the cameras and such, but that won’t stop the physical guards, and the like.”
“Shadowgirl,” I turned to the thief adept, “if we gave you a distraction, how confident are you that you could slip in and out unnoticed, planting the device where it needs to go?”
“If Twilight gets the doors for me, and my magic is full up? Yeah, I could do that. Twilight would need to let me know where to go, and where to plug the device, but if she was already on overwatch? I could be her hands.”
“Whatcha thinking, Icy?” Sexkitten grinned. “We stage a ‘botched’ raid, draw the guards’ attention while Shadowgirl sneaks in and Twilight makes sure no one sees her, and then run like hell before the Knights show up?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Maybe not a ‘botched’ raid, but definitely a distraction. For instance, we attack the accounting office, have someone pretend to hack the system, Twilight transfers a bunch of nucred onto the blank certified credsticks we have left over from the last run, and then run when things either get too hot, or Shadowgirl reports she’s clear.”
“In other words, getting paid for our distraction?” Berzerker laughed. “I love it, boss! Only question, who’s going to be our ‘hacker’? Because sounds like you’re wanting Twilight on overwatch for the two parts of the run, and if we’re going to be leaving in a hurry, then Babydoll will need to be with the vans.”
I turned to the cybered-up catgirl. “Sexkitten, that’ll be your job. People who watch me at work are going to figure me for a mage. Berzerker is obviously a gunner. Neither of us make for convincing hackers. You, though? They’d be willing to believe that.”
“I wouldn’t have to do the actual hacking, though, right? Because while I can use a commlink, that doesn’t mean I have any of the skills to actually do tech-wizardry.”
Twilight shook her head. “I can handle that. I’ll even make the system think you’re attacking from wherever you plug in from. But if we’re going to go that route, then we’re going to need some kind of smokescreen until we actually get Sexkitten in place. I can make it so that, when she gets to the actual terminal you’ll use for the distraction, it looks like she accessed a hacked account with all the right permissions. That’ll send corpsec chasing tails for a bit. But we need something to keep the security off guard, and keep them from just calling in a digital air strike.”
“What if we hired some help?” Babydoll asked. “I know a gang that works the Matrix, and pretty much just the Matrix. Call themselves the Reality Hackers. We could get them to do a DDOS attack on the servers, timed for while we make our approach, and then have them back off when Sexkitten starts her ‘work’.”
“I can work with that,” Twilight nodded. “If we can get them to do a concerted attack for, say, an hour? That would do just fine. Might even be able to get a couple hits of my own in while the spider is distracted.”
“Will the attack affect your ability to access the node remotely?”
“Hmm. Some, yes. Perhaps, instead of a DDOS attack, they do a straight up smash and grab? Break in, tag the place, steal what data they can get their hands on, and get out. If a spider gets got in the middle of that, then someone will just say it was a lucky shot.”
“Good idea. So, we have a distraction and a false flag. Shadowgirl will get the device somewhere hidden, and that’ll be that. What do we do if someone discovers the commlink?”
“Reason most teams would do something like this is to steal data, not add to data,” Twilight said. “There’s probably files for other movies on the servers. Or other data we could steal, and maybe sell for a profit. Once they see what they expect to see…”
“They’ll probably stop looking at the files that haven’t been taken or moved. I like it.”
Babydoll grinned. “Then I guess we ought to go talk to the hacker gang. They like to use a virtual message board for people wanting to meet. Just so you know, the meet will also likely be in the Matrix. They’ll be wanting to meet on their home turf, so to speak.”
Twilight nodded. “That way, they can bug out easier if it looks like a trap, or have a better chance of beating anyone who turns hostile than they would in the meat. Most hackers aren’t wired up to fight like some of you guys are, and they know it. So, they won’t put themselves at a disadvantage like that.”
“All right. Babydoll, set up the meet, and then I’d like you, Shadowgirl, and Twilight to head out to the Silver Lake area, and get some fresh intel. Same as we did with Cozi. Use the drone to get a good look at the outside, so Shadowgirl can plan her approach, and Twilight takes her time getting in and owning the system. Twilight, once you’ve got access to the outer network, I’d like you to do a scan of the file, just to double check that we aren’t going to be brain-frying children. Didn’t seem like Mr. Tanaka was lying, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t misinformed.”
“Got it,” Twilight nodded.
I looked over to the remaining two girls, and said, “As for the rest of us, we’re going to go over weapon loadouts, and see if there’s anything we should get so our nonlethal raid is appropriately nonlethal, but not so bad that we’re hamstringing ourselves. It will still be ten on three, after all. No reason to give the other side more chances to mess us up than we have to.”
“Should be fine,” Berzerker said. “I’ve got clips of Stick-n-Shock ammo for my SMG and battle rifle, so I can use those, and switch to the pistol or grenade launcher for more lethal firepower. Also have flash-bangs and smoke grenades to toss around. Probably best to toss in a room and shut the door on the flash-bangs, since I haven’t practiced lobbing them.”
“Might be something to practice between now and our next job,” Sexkitten said. “Actually, now that you mention it, I should probably get some flash-bangs and the like. Add to my options a bit. I did remember to get SnS ammo for my guns, though. So, should be covered on nonlethal action.”
“Good,” I nodded. “We’ll still double-check, but it sounds like we’re going to be golden for our part of the performance. Anyone have any questions or concerns?”
“Yeah, small one,” said Shadowgirl. “We got recommended for this job by Twilight’s Yak contact, right? Why would the Yakuza drop this much money on interfering with a movie’s production, but want to keep things quiet? Like, it would make sense if they were trying to do a protection racket, but this?”
Twilight frowned. “We might have a better guess once I get a chance to look at the file in depth. Could be anything, though. Perhaps they’re trying to tank the reviews or sales, either as punishment for something, or to promote an alternative product. Or, when the changes are finally found, it might push back the movie launch, costing the studio a lot of money, and giving another product more time to shine. Or it could be a smear campaign against the star. There are just too many different possibilities to say for certain.”
I sighed, and said, “There’s also the possibility that the Yakuza are just middlemen. Which would also explain why they aren’t using their own people to do this. A little bit of deniability goes a long way, especially when you’re being made into a cutout. In fact, that’s probably what we’re looking at, here.”
Babydoll nodded. “Yeah, but so long as the money is good and we’re not putting kids in the firing line, the rest isn’t really our problem, right? We just need to do the job, get away clean, and get paid. Everything else is someone else’s problem.”
“True enough,” I grinned. “Now, let’s get to work.”
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